- Raptors get the 6 seed and eliminate the Knicks in the 1st round in 7
- Andrew Wiggins' birth certificate reveals that he's 25, causing his stock to plummet to mid-round
- Wiggins falls and the Raptors select him 18th, at which point he reveals that his birth certificate was fake, and his real one says that he's 18
- The Raptors hoodwink everyone in the NBA, and people rejoice in the streets of Toronto.

- The Raptors do not tank.. they try to make the playoffs but fail landing in the 9th seed in the East, and 10th worst overall.
- The lottery Gods are helpful and they move up in the lottery into 3rd and draft Exum.
- Lowry is not traded, but becomes a UFA.
- Gay opts out and resigns for 4 years / $50M
- DD suffers an injury and only plays 35 games. He is not traded.
- JV makes the highlight reels by blocking Lebron at the end of Toronto's first win against the 'big 3'.

- The entire team buys in to Casey's team defense and they become top 8 defense
- Lowry finally gets it and becomes a play-making PG, while gambling less on defense and rebounding
- Rudy regains his 3 pt shooting and raises his average to 38-40%
- Demar improves his 3 pt shooting to 34%, but still doesn't shoot that many
- With these above two improving their efficiency, coupled with effective 3s from Novak, Ross, Fields, Jonas gets overshadowed a little on offense in many games, but develops into the defensive anchor the team needs
- And to be really BOLD, they make the 6th seed and advance to the second round,,,,,,,,,, OR, Masai finds a way to swing a trade(s) and get Wiggins

- The entire team buys in to Casey's team defense and they become top 8 defense
- Lowry finally gets it and becomes a play-making PG, while gambling less on defense and rebounding
- Rudy regains his 3 pt shooting and raises his average to 38-40%
- Demar improves his 3 pt shooting to 34%, but still doesn't shoot that many
- With these above two improving their efficiency, coupled with effective 3s from Novak, Ross, Fields, Jonas gets overshadowed a little on offense in many games, but develops into the defensive anchor the team needs
- And to be really BOLD, they make the 6th seed and advance to the second round,,,,,,,,,, OR, Masai finds a way to swing a trade(s) and get Wiggins

If this happens, I'm fairly confident that a COY or EOY award would follow

1. Rudy, Kyle, TRoss, and Amir are all traded before January 1. The Rudy trade is a complicated three-team trade. Masai's return on those three is as follows: six first-round draft picks (two in 2014, one in 2015, three in 2016), 2-3 young players who haven't yet panned out for other teams but still have upside, and a heap of garbage contracts - but nothing lasting past 2015.
2. Following the trades, Jonas becomes the offensive focal point of the team and goes from being the 17-and-8 player he was to a 20-10 player. His defense improves dramatically over the season and he dominates at the rising stars game at the All-Star Break. (Also showing improvement: Dwight Buycks, Austin Daye, Landry Fields.)
3. Jonas suffers a minor hand injury close to the trade deadline and the Raptors announce that team doctors have diagnosed it as being very very very serious and he sits out most of the rest of the year.
4. At the trade deadline Masai moves Steve Novak, Austin Daye and DJ Augustin for second-round picks for playoff-bound teams desperate for more three-point shooting from the bench. He also moves Aaron Gray to a team that needs a solid backup centre, also for a second-rounder.
5. The Raptors close out the season at 24-58, good for fourth-worst overall in the draft, and end up getting the second pick overall.

Bold predictions but still end up in lottery with future based on bouncing balls. I am tired of this scenario.....has never worked out for us.

Even then, when the Raptors were intentionally playing the "lottery ball game" they've had plenty of good opportunities aswell

Over approx the last 10 seasons they've expected (planned in some fashion or at some point anyways) to be in the lottery 4 times, those times they have:

#7 Charlie V - not much of an NBA career but had a very good rookie season and was a valuable trade asset
#1 Bargnani - not going to say nearly as much here as I could, but the opportunity to grab some high end talent was there and missed
#5 Jonas - if not a homerun this was a stand up triple
#8 Ross - the opportunity to draft Drummond was right there and passed up

The draft itself has not been unfriendly to Toronto as much as the guys making the decisions were making bad choices.

Even then, when the Raptors were intentionally playing the "lottery ball game" they've had plenty of good opportunities aswell

Over approx the last 10 seasons they've expected (planned in some fashion or at some point anyways) to be in the lottery 4 times, those times they have:

#7 Charlie V - not much of an NBA career but had a very good rookie season and was a valuable trade asset
#1 Bargnani - not going to say nearly as much here as I could, but the opportunity to grab some high end talent was there and missed
#5 Jonas - if not a homerun this was a stand up triple
#8 Ross - the opportunity to draft Drummond was right there and passed up

The draft itself has not been unfriendly to Toronto as much as the guys making the decisions were making bad choices.

Bold Prediction for the year:

The Raptors roster sees little to no change of significance.

Kind of getting at what I was saying - I think...

The people making the decisions have messed up critical components at critical junctures.

The story of the Raptors existence has been the inability to get all the ducks in a row (star talent, with compliementary players, solid coaching) at the same time.

They might nail the draft but then give out bad contracts, sign poor coach, remove all financial flexibility, etc.

OR

They might biff on the draft but load the roster full of complimentary players being pushed in to larger roles than their talent merits or whatever.

Lowry is a top 10 fantasy player the first two week into the season and then gets hurt and is never the same.

Raptors start 5-0

Raptors approach the trade deadline 2 games over .500, but Masai trades Lowry and Gay for first round pick n' stuff. Every Raptor fan in Toronto goes nuts claiming we had a chance to make some noise in the playoffs until Masai screwed it up.

1) Id say about a one in a million chance .. so I agree, that is BOLD
2) the first part is reasonably possible (ie Ross becoming a good starting option), but with Casey's bias towards young players .. it just wont happen that Ross gets the nod. As others have said, its not that Casey doesnt like Ross .. its that he doesnt like Rooks (or young guys) period (see: JVs mins last year).

As for me, my bold prediction would be similar the the Ross one .. I think he will totally outperform and become a top 2-3 player on the team (with one of RG/DD and JV).
On a similar note, i think one of DD or RG is gone before Christmas (arguably this isnt that bold as many have speculated it .. but none the less)

1) Amir shows why he deserves the starting spot and people start to realize how good he is.
2) Lowry is gone before this year is out.
3) Rudy Gay silences his critics and becomes the most important reason for a turn around season.
4) DeRozan learns to hit 3's consistently.
5) Hansbrough is a big softy at heart.
6) Casey shows his quality as a coach, Raptors fans happy.
7) JV approaches a complete player by season end.
8) Raps go 44-40 and grab the 7th seed. T.O. shits itself in disbelief.
9) Masai earns "Greatest Deal Ever In The History Of Sports" Award for the Bargnani Deal.
10) Primo pasta and sauce goes bankrupt.
11) Fields and Novak prove to be outstanding contributors off the bench.
12) Masai hits another home run in a deal, maybe 2.
13) Someone takes the stick out of Leo Rautins' ass and he turns into a quality broadcaster.